Fire safety and external wall cladding

Posted Thursday 14 June 2018

Mosman Council will be writing to all individual owners and body corporates of buildings that contain external cladding and are high risk to increase awareness of fire safety, request documentation and advise on the roles and responsibilities of owners.

Body corporates of the identified high risk buildings, which at this stage do not include low rise development and detached dwelling houses, are being asked for their cooperation to have external cladding reviewed by an accredited person so that a report may be submitted to Council.

The program follows an audit and inspection program by Mosman Council’s Compliance Team of buildings that contain external cladding and are high risk based on the approved use of the premises along with their number of storeys and coincides with an imminent amendment under the EPA (Identification of Buildings with combustible cladding) Regulation 2017.

The NSW Government has been working on addressing fire safety risks associated with external wall cladding since 2015 and, following the Grenfell fire in London, it developed and began implementing a coordinated, whole of government response which included a requirement for NSW councils to participate in an audit program to identify high risk buildings in their local areas and commence an inspection program.

If owners and occupants of buildings are concerned about fire safety in their building, they should take immediate action rather than waiting to be contacted by the State Government or local council.